Warren Kendall Lewis (21 August 1882 – 9 March 1975) was an

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

professor who has been called the father of modern

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

.Biographical Memoirs, National Academy of Science
/ref> He co-authored an early major textbook on the subject which essentially introduced the concept of

unit operation In chemical engineering and related fields, a unit operation is a basic step in a process. Unit operations involve a physical change or chemical transformation such as separation, crystallization, evaporation, filtration, polymerization, isomeriza ...

s. He also co-developed the Houdry process under contract to The Standard Oil Company of New Jersey (now ExxonMobil) into modern fluid catalytic cracking with Edwin R. Gilliland, another MIT professor.

Life

Lewis was born in Laurel,

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

, on 21 August 1882 and went to MIT to study engineering. He took the chemical engineering option from the Department of Chemistry, matriculating in 1901. This so engaged him that he went for postgraduate study of

physical chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistica ...

in Breslau,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, receiving the degree of DSc in 1908. Shortly after, he returned to MIT to join the teaching staff. In 1909 Lewis published a paper on "The Theory of Fractional Distillation" which was the basis for subsequent chemical engineering calculation methods. (He later authored 19 patents on distillation.) In 1920 he became the first head of the newly formed Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT a position he held for 13 years before returning to teaching and research. In November 1942 Lewis was appointed to chair a committee to survey the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

and review all aspects of the bomb research and development, partly because of du Pont’s doubts about the plutonium process. Their report dated December 4 supported the plutonium project. It also recommended concentrating on the gaseous diffusion process for enriching uranium and building only a small electromagnetic plant. Conant supported building a large electromagnetic plant, which Nichols says was essential to dropping the bomb in August rather than months later. The committee also suggested suitable industrial organisations and ... ''furnished us with a blueprint for the complete industrial organization of the project which Groves mostly followed ... and gave us more confidence concerning the feasibility of producing sufficient quantities of fissionable material''. Kenneth D. Nichols; ''The Road to Trinity: A Personal Account of How America’s Nuclear Policies Were Made'' pp. 65–68 (1987, Morrow, New York) In April–May 1944 another committee under Lewis recommended construction of the S-50 thermal diffusion plant developed by

Philip Abelson Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

of the US Navy. He was made

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

in 1948 and continued to work within the department until his death on 9 March 1975.

Honors

*1936

Perkin Medal The Perkin Medal is an award given annually by the Society of Chemical Industry (American Section) to a scientist residing in America for an "innovation in applied chemistry resulting in outstanding commercial development." It is considered the ...

of the

Society of Chemical Industry The Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) is a learned society set up in 1881 "to further the application of chemistry and related sciences for the public benefit". Offices The society's headquarters is in Belgrave Square, London. There are semi-in ...

*1947 Lamme Medal of the

American Society of Engineering Education American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

*1947 Priestley Medal of the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

. He was the first chemical engineer to achieve the Priestley Medal.''Chemical & Engineering News'' 86 (14) April 7, 2008
(special edition on Priestley Medal) 1947: Warren K. Lewis (1882–1975) *1949

American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal The American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal is the highest award of the American Institute of Chemists The American Institute of Chemists (AIC) is an organization founded in 1923 with the goal of advancing the chemistry profession in the Uni ...

*1957 E. V. Murphree Award *He is commemorated in the ''Warren K. Lewis Award for Chemical Engineering Education''Warren K. Lewis Award
/ref> of the AIChE and in the Warren K. Lewis Lectureship at MIT.Lewis lecture
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Warren K. 1882 births 1975 deaths American physical chemists American chemical engineers American Congregationalists American textbook writers American male non-fiction writers MIT School of Engineering faculty Fluid dynamicists National Medal of Science laureates Manhattan Project people 20th-century American male writers